Republic of India Livelihoods in intermediate towns

Appendix 3 Case Studies: Community and Caste based settlements

3.1. Muslim Fakir Tola, Satghara: The Fakir Tola, in Satghara, constitutes sixty households, all of whom are Muslims. Set in the near center of the settlement, the habitation wears a despondent look. Poorly constructed and clustered housing opens into narrow lanes that run through the settlement, circumscribed by construction material and waste. Children lurk around these lanes, some playing with each other and some walking around with their elder siblings or mothers. As we entered the tola, we spotted a half constructed house. A woman was sat nearby and when we approached to speak to her, she was reluctant to respond. Upon further explanation and discussion, she told us
What can I tell you about myself? So many people like you come here, we fear that things may unnecessary travel. Giving out such information may be a cause of inconvenience for us.
Perhaps due to the popular sentiment of suspicion, and that of a malafide sentiment associated with outsiders, the tension and reluctance to share experiences in the tola, was palpable. Five members from the tola have migrated to Saudi Arabia where they work as drivers. One of the family members of the migrant drivers told us that it had taken over a lakh to organize the travel and papers for migration, all of which had been covered through debt incurred from the local moneylenders at a high rate of interest – between 5 to 7 percent at least. According to them, a substantial part of their earnings and remittance went away in clearing these debts, for at least a year of their jobs. The partly constructed house that we saw upon our entry belonged to man who had migrated to Delhi over twenty years ago and sold plastic stickers for a living. He told us that it had taken him nearly a decade to be able to construct the partly finished house but as he added, ‘I at least have a roof over my head now, however it is. And can be assured that my family is sheltered’.
The rate of out migration from this tola is very high, other than those who have gone to Saudi Arabia, at least 40 more members have migrated to different parts within the country – Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The remaining male members work as cycle rickshaw operators within Satghara, as that requires the least amount of investment and skills to begin. Most of these cycle rickshaw operators were those who had returned since having migrated and now saw the rickshaw as a source of livelihood.
While we talked with the residents of the settlement, it became evident to us that the levels of daily poverty were high. One woman remarked that they had to sometimes incur debts even to meet daily expenses, and they did so at high rates of interest. Upon asking why was it that women could not contribute to the household income in the form of daily wage labour or other forms of livelihood within Satghara, it became clear to us that women’s mobility was deeply restricted. Neither could they go out of the tola to work nor to study. Most of the tasks that they required of the market or of institutional facilities like banks and healthcare were met by male relatives present in the settlement. They insisted that if there were any kind of work that they could do from within their homes, it would be of great help to them. One of the married women, whose husband worked as a driver in Saudi Arabia said,
We are married very young, and we have children at a very young age too. We never have the chance to study or to look after ourselves. Even now, my husband is away and there is no assurance that money will come in regularly, it depends upon how well he can keep his job. But I can’t help as I don’t make any money and neither can I hope to. Sometimes, I have to take a loan to meet daily expenses and the money that my husband sends is used up in paying them off, what can I do?

3.2 Muslim Tola, Bhagwatipur: Zarina Khatoon is a twenty four year old woman who belongs to the Ansari community among the Muslims in Bhagwatipur. As we approached the tola, Zareena was busy spreading the wheat grain she had purchased from the market in the sun. Her two children loitered around her as she worked in silence. She has been married to her twenty eight year old husband for eight years, meaning she got married as young as sixteen years of age. Zarina is illiterate and so is her migrant husband. Zareena’s memory of her husband is that of a migrant, even before she was married to him, he had been away in Mumbai, working as a tailor and in her estimate, he has been away for nearly ten years which means that he, like many other Ansari Muslims of the area, had moved to Mumbai as a young man.

Zarina spoke of her household’s poverty with a sense of despondency. Her husband is able to save and send nearly Rs. 4000 every three months, all of which goes towards meeting subsistence expenditures. Zarina has never worked, neither as an agricultural nor as a daily wage labour.

‘We never had land to be able to do any agricultural work’, she echoes the sentiment of many other landless families, for whom agricultural work is not a skill they have acquired naturally. ‘I don’t have the time for daily wage labour, I have never done it’, she said. ‘My husband sends the money to my sister-in law’s son’s bank account, who withdraws and hands it over to me once it arrives’.
Zarina also told us that her husband had incurred a high amount of debt from the local money lender in order to meet the expenses towards his sister’s wedding a couple of years ago. Given the high rate of interest, nearly 7 percent per month, most of his savings go towards meeting the debt. While we were speaking to Zarina, a young girl came and stopped by. She also belonged to the tola and was curious to know what we were talking about. Nineteen years old, she had recently failed her high school ‘matric’ examination, and was the most educated girl in the tola.
I want to study further but I can’t. My parents are now worried about my marriage and they are looking out for suitable boys for me. Once I am married, it will be all about the household and children, who will then have the time to think about education.
Aamina Khatoon, Zarina’s neighbor also came out upon hearing the conversation. She agreed with the young girl as she had tried to do something after her marriage, in the village but to no avail. Aamina is thirty-five years old and she had lived in Delhi for between 10 to 12 years. She liked to stay in Delhi, though they had to leave the house as her father-in-law did not get along with her husband, she said that she was happy to have left.
My husband worked as a carpenter and mason, and I learnt tailoring in Delhi. It was nice to be able to work and make some money. But now that we are back in the village, my husband does not allow me to work, it is very restricting, unlike the city, where I could do what I wanted to.

3.3. Mallah Tola, Bhagwatipur: Mallahs are the traditional fishing community in the region. In addition to fishing, they also render labour as agricultural workers on other’s fields as well to eke out a living. As we moved around the settlement, it was clear to us that men were conspicuous by their absence whereas women were copious. Of the men, mostly young boys and old men were present, and loitered about the settlement to make themselves useful. Of the young men who were present, all were migrants who had returned to the village for a brief while, to go back to their city of work yet again.

Looking around for a place to sit and talk, we were led to the house of two young women, Pinky and Rinky, who are sisters to each other. Pinky is nineteen and Rinky is eighteen years old, and they are widely popular in the settlement and among the Mallah community for having studied the most. Pinky has recently enrolled herself in class 12 and Rinky in class 10, and both of them are hopeful about being able to complete it. Their father is one of the more prosperous men among the Mallahs and is credited with respect for having educated his daughters well.

However, all is not well with Pinky and Rinky having studied ‘so much’. Women who had gathered in the settlement, near their house, spoke eloquently of how it was become increasingly difficult to find suitable grooms for Pinky, the elder one. ‘She is so educated, more than the usual Mallah boy. Who will marry her’? As the discussion progressed, it became clearer that Pinky’s educational status was a problem as far as her ability to get marriage was concerned.
A good match for an educated girl is very difficult (to find). The more educated a girl, the more educated the groom, which means a higher amount of dowry. How will they find so much money? One of the prospective groom’s family asked for a motorcycle in dowry. If we were to fulfill the demand, we would have to incur debt from the money lender.
A higher educational status for girls, was hence, not desirable. Also, the value of education per se was not highly estimated. ‘Only one of the men from the settlement has a naukri (job) in town. When men don’t have a job, what will women do after studying? It only creates further problems for their marriage and with their in-laws’, said a 50 year old Mallah woman.
The men are not around anyway, they move to the city. It is women who have to do most of the work, whether it is within the house or on the fields. Even if men lived in the village, they wouldn’t go for agricultural labour. Agricultural labour wage is low and men would rather do something else for more money. Agriculture wouldn’t sustain itself in this village if it weren’t for the women, we do it because that’s the only source of money we have, while in the village.
Migration is a ‘culture of livelihood’ for Mallah men, typical of the general trend in the region. As a traditional occupation, fishing has diminished, even though it continues to remain a caste based one. However the absence of men within the village has also reduced the scope for the continuity of this activity; men are the ones who go fishing and women are the ones who sell, along with men. With a decreasing number of men within the village, few are available to go fishing and hence dependence on other forms of income generating activity has increased, especially for women who stay behind the village. But more than often, agricultural labour does not get paid in cash, they are paid in kind, the common practice being 1 bojha (approximately 15 kilo of grains) for every 12 bojhas they can harvest in the field. It takes them an average of five days at least to be able to gather 1 bojha from the landowners.
Women rarely accompany their husbands to the city, it is expensive to maintain a household in the city and therefore the family stays behind. Men regularly remit the money to the village, and the use of institutionalized financial services, like banks, has increased. However, low financial literacy disables women from operating on their own, they are usually dependent upon elder male relatives, ‘guardians’, to withdraw and use money from the bank.

3.4: Badhai Tola, Bhagwatipur: The badhais are traditional carpenters, most of whom are now engaged in commercialized carpentry i.e. a diminished involvement in the jajmani system. The settlement is clustered in a limited expanse of land, with narrow patches of land distributed between households. Carpentry tools were flung about – saws and axes and variously sized blades could be seen stored outside the house. Men were about their business in the day, those who had not migrated worked in the market establishment and some of them even worked from within the tola.

During the busy time of the day, women were going about their household chores –washing clothes at the common hand pump, feeding children, cleaning and cooking. One of the first female residents we spoke to was Geeta Devi, who had lived in Delhi for a few years with her migrant husband. Her son required medical attention due to a physical disability and she has hence accompanied her husband. Her son died soon afterwards and she returned to the village. Due to her stay and experience in Delhi, as Geeta Devi reported,

I feel confident in going about the market on personal errands. I can take my children to the doctor and also use the bank to withdraw the money that my husband sends. However, most of the other women in the tola are dependent upon their male relatives for most things
Geeta is literate, and one of the only women of her generation in her tola to be so. She complained that education was not important in their community, for both men and women. ‘There are no jobs to go around, so there is no incentive to be educated. And if men can’t get jobs, how will women find them, especially when they are not educated’. Once she said that, other women who were standing about joined in the discussion. One of them, an over sixty year old woman told us that her son and daughter-in-law lived in Delhi, and both of them were educated. ‘My daughter-in-law is finishing her B.A. in Delhi. She is looking for work in the city, and if she can find it, she’ll do it too’. Others marveled at how she was the only woman from their tola to be so educated. Also, it was unusual for women to study after marriage and it won’t be misplaced to say that most of them looked at the older woman with an eye for suspicion!
Like women from the Muslim Fakir tola, Badhai women reported not doing any daily waged labour in the village. However, they do go about their ordinary tasks like buying vegetables and ratio and can also travel up until Madhubani in a shared auto rickshaw to buy medicines and other essential supplies, if needed.

3.5. Brahmin Tola, Nahar (Bhagwatipur): The Brahmin settlement is in the area known as Nahar-Bhagwatipur. It is interesting to note that the generation of parents/couples between the age of 40 and 60 years were conspicuously missing from the village. Whereas, in other settlements, only the men were not around, in this case, there were disjointed households present – most commonly, a set of grandchildren living with their grandparents. Women have accompanied their husbands to their city of work and have established functional households there. Young children however stay on in the village, given the high costs of education in the city and join their families once they can find an avenue to work and earn.

However the set of jobs and work that migrants from the Nahar-Brahmin tola went out for are qualitatively different from those we found in other settlements. They have usually migrated for more skilled jobs like construction supervisor, mid-level manager and semi skilled technicians. Their wives, whether they stay with them in the city or without them in the village, are not allowed to work outside the household. Like a young man in the tola, who is studying in class 11 told us:

Women from the Brahmin household do not ‘work’, they only do work that is required within the house. Even if women may study and work before they get married, they can only undertake household responsibilities once they are. We have still retained our traditions. Most of the households have given away their agricultural land under sharecropping and women don’t attend to the fields. If it were not for old, over 60 year old men in the village, we would not be able to manage our fields as there is nobody else to look after them.
Young men aspire to move out of the village as soon as they can, some of them are already looking forward to jobs in the town and city that their families and social networks are trying to procure for them. They attend nearby colleges, in Madhubani, and some of them have also moved with their families to places within Bihar. A young boy, in class eight, told us with abundant confidence
I live in Patna with my father and mother. My father has a small shop there. I study in a convent. I think it is better than studying in the village where the quality of English teaching is very poor and students are not that bright. English is very important for the future.

3.6. Dom Tola, Satghara: The Doms constitute the category of Mahadalits among the Scheduled Castes in Bihar⁸. Dispersed as the settlement is, the Dom tola lies on the outward margins from the center of Satghara. The entrance of the settlement is framed by a stagnant water pond, which is used as a source of water for daily use by the residents – washing and cleaning. Unpaved paths define the entry into the settlement, flanked by mud-thatched huts on both sides. Men and women can be seen busy with weaving bamboo baskets – their traditional occupation. These baskets are then sold in the market for use on various occasions like marriages and festivals, to pack fruits and for other household storage. Working with bamboo is perceived as a defiling occupation by the so called upper castes and hence the Doms are also considered ‘untouchable’ by caste groups without and even within the Scheduled Caste category.

Even among the Scheduled Castes, degrees of untouchability are practiced against the Dom members. For instance, the Paswan caste members, who are themselves a part of the Scheduled Castes consider Doms ‘untouchable’ as they rear pigs. The distorted stigma of untouchability, lack of political empowerment and the paucity of social and financial capital hinders the Dom community to a great extent. While discussing the sources of their livelihood, one of the male members who used to work as chair-weaver and rickshaw puller in Calcutta and has since returned to his village complained:

We only know the trade of making these bamboo baskets. Initially, we could also weave through and mend the chairs, which are now entirely out of making. It is too expensive to make it to the city for other kinds of work, we don’t have those kinds of resources. These bamboo baskets hardly fetch a price. Most of us who had gone out to work have returned, we can never earn or save enough, what can we really do?
Both men and women are involved in the business of making baskets. Male out migration from this settlement is near negligible, even if men move out, they are unable to stay out and work for long for the sheer paucity of resources. The anger in their voices was evident:
We get cornered from all directions. If we stay in the village, there is no work to do, and if we go outside, we can never earn enough. Even though we got an employment guarantee card made for ourselves in the village, the village headman (mukhia), who is from the Paswan community does not get us any work. What about our children’s education or our own futures can we think of when it is difficult to sustain ourselves each day, by day.
Even their traditional occupation is facing diminishing prospects. There are cheaper substitutes to bamboo, available in the market – fibre, plastic – which sell more readily than bamboo. Also, increasingly, they have to go out further and across longer distances to be able to procure bamboo for their use. All of these families are landless and have never had any representation in waged employment either. They are therefore entirely dependent upon the craft of making the bamboo baskets. Given the low price it fetches in the market, families complained about how they had to live off debt for many months. They go out into the villages and local markets to sell the bamboo products, but without hope of high sales.
The levels of debt driven subsistence consumption is also prevalent among the Dom basket makers in Satghara. As the sale of the baskets is concentrated over certain periods in the year – during festivals like Chhath and during the season of weddings, a significant number of the households have to incur debt to meet consumption needs for the rest of the year, which takes the form of kind (in grain) from the local sahukaar (grocer). Like an elderly male basket maker of the community put it -
Each year, hum karja kar kar ke khatey hain, koi jiwan nahi hai, hum sabka jiwan bekaar hai (we live out of debt, this is no life, our lives are of no worth).
Shanti Devi is an over fifty years old Mahadalit woman leader of the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), who lives in the Dom tola in Satghara. Clad in a bright red synthetic sari and with an assured presence and confident voice, Shanti Devi articulated the complexities of work, migration and local politics with the ease of a seasoned leader. She explained to us how they had to buy bamboo from places like Samastipur, Barauni, Hajipur and Darbangha before they fashioned it into different items of use; how their traditional occupation was threatened in the face of plastic and fibre. According to her, members from the Dom community never rendered any agricultural labour, they have stuck to their traditional occupation along with failed attempts to make a life in the city. The jajmani system too, according to her, has withered away and it is only in the market and across villages that they sell the dagra (sieves) that they make out of bamboo.
Among the other women, was Sunita Devi, who is a member and local leader of the Janta Dal (United). Both she and Shanti Devi had been trained in political mobilization and work during the Lalu Prasad Yadav headed government and spoke of their training and work with high regard. ‘We even went to jails’, said Shanti Devi, ‘and we aren’t afraid of anyone, what is there to be scared of’?
Heralding Lalu Yadav’s political legacy, Shanti Devi was proud of the fact that with the help of Lalu and due to the kind of political empowerment that the lower castes received, they had been able to voice their concerns.
Lalu is gone, but he have us aaloo (potato). From a potato, you can make many things –sabzi, curry and even chips. Sir (addressing the principal investigator), we used to be very fearful – if we didn’t go the malik, what would he do to us, we used to be constantly worried. But since Lalu ji took birth, he made life much better for us. Now the malik comes to us and requests us to work for him – and if we have the time, we go and we also have the capacity to refuse
Shanti Devi is also anxious about the future of the community, according to her, things have marginally improved since before for they at least have a ‘voice’. However, that alone is not sufficient. She believes that though the government may have categorized them into ‘Mahadalits’ but to no avail. ‘There is nothing to show for it. And we have not gained anything out of it’, she said. Shanti Devi recently lost the panchayat elections to a Paswan woman leader. Paswans too are members of the Scheduled Caste, but not Mahadalits. ‘I will fight elections a second time too’. Shanti Devi informed us, ‘I have to take care of my community and people’. She believes that the betterment of the next generation lies in jobs and employment but the level of education is very low and they are not even interested in studying.